With the closing of a schoolboy rugby season comes more than just the climax of a competition.
For some there comes an end of a chapter in a young man’s life that can never truly be revisited. Of course there are numerous old boys who try to relive their youth but the innocence of schoolboy rugby teams eludes most in adult endeavours. Scholastic grades will generally dictate what field a student pursues into his twenties and beyond.
However the emphasis that our players and coaches put on sporting excellence demands a more physical and emotional spend than any study for future occupations or professions. So why do our young men push themselves to the brink to bring glory to their team?
The answer can be seen in the moistened eyes of players, hands on hearts, grasping their school crest as the school song is sung before they play their final match for their school. LOVE. It sounds romantically absurd but it is a true love of being part of a team that drives players to give their utmost to their team mates. It’s the reason why exhausted young men continue to thrash themselves at training, the reason why players will not give up in the face of adversity and the reason why we say a team plays with heart. It’s an emotion that bonds teammates for life, to each other, to their school and also to the family of rugby players the world over.
Of course this year is only one year of a competition that has been played for decades and this is only one of the many sports that have a pinnacle at the end of a school life. Nonetheless the boys who have played their final game for their school do experience a number of emotions. Firstly there is a sense of satisfaction that comes with completion and if the players have given everything to their cause there can be the contented feeling of a winner regardless of the scoreboard. Secondly the sense of loss is real and brings many emotions to the surface, often overwhelming feelings, that make these occasions larger than life.
Congratulations must go to all the players who have played their last game of Rugby for their schools in the last couple of weeks. There are many of us who have completed such a journey and now you can join our ranks and cheer on the school crest from the sidelines. And in time you too will know that the majority of schoolboys find it difficult to understand the significance of this milestone as youth always has an impatient way of looking to the future. I think the American novelist Ellen Glasgow summed it up best when she wrote, “the older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the joys of childhood are the best that life has to give.”
